INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 123 



narrowing 

 tains. Th 

 Comorin t 



excessive. At Cape 

 ;hes. To the north- 



ward, in Canara, the climate is drier, especially in winter, and 

 the hills are less elevated. During the north-east monsoon, 

 from January to April, which includes the hottest season of 

 the year throughout the province, irregular winds and showers 

 prevail everywhere, except opposite Coimbator, where, from 



unfreq 



mountains, dry 



From the humid character of the Malabar climate, its lux- 

 uriant vegetation might be inferred. Hamilton tells us that 

 it resembles Bengal in verdure, but has loftier trees and more 

 Palms : the shores are skirted with Cocoa-nuts, and the vil- 



surrounded with grov 



ocarpous tree, is abundantly 



in many parts ; Cassia, Pe 

 1 in the iunerles. and form 



without the screens 



m 



about it, is the best proof of the dampness and equability of 

 the climate. The low valleys are richly clothed with rice- 

 fields, and the hill-sides with millets and other dry crops, 



loftier mountains 



with 



The mass of the Flora is Malayan, and identical with that 

 of Ceylon, and many of the species are further common to the 

 Khasia and the base of the Himalaya. Teak is found abun- 

 dantly in the forests, but the Sandal- wood occurs only on the 

 east and dry flanks of the chain. Oaks and Conifera are 

 wholly unknown in Malabar, but the common Bengal Willow 

 {Salix tetrasperma) grows on the hills. Gnetum and Cycas 

 both occur, the former abundantly. 



The mountain-chain which forms the eastern boundary of 

 Malabar, separating it from Mysore and the Carnatic, lias, 

 except on the eastern slopes of the most loft \ parts, a very 



